SAN ANGELO, Texas - Angelo State University's Center for Security Studies (CSS) and Laura W. Bush Institute for Women's Health have both moved from the planning and implementation stages into actively conducting programs for students and the community.

The CSS is now taking applications for its first course offerings this fall semester toward bachelor's degrees in cultural competence and security studies, cultural fluency and security studies, and border security. The bachelor's degree courses are currently being offered online to Air Force personnel who have completed an associate degree from the Community College of the Air Force.

Additionally, online courses toward master's degrees in security studies and border security will also begin this fall. While the bachelor's degree programs are not currently available to nonmilitary students, the master's programs are now open to anyone who holds a bachelor's degree and meets the program admission criteria.

Online courses toward two new academic minor programs and 13 certificate programs in border security and cultural competence and security studies will also be available for the first time this fall for all students who meet the programs' admission criteria. The minor and certificate courses are eight-week courses that will be offered during each fall and spring semester.

A sample of course offerings available this fall includes Introduction to Cultural Competence, Contemporary Issues in World Politics, Introduction to Border Security, Transnational Crime, American Government, Politics and National Security, International Law and a variety of courses focused on different global regions.

All CSS programs and courses will be available both online and on campus to all students who meet admission criteria starting in the fall of 2012.

"Security studies is really international studies with a focus on relevance," said Dr. Bruce Bechtol Jr., CSS associate professor. "If you are a student in security studies at ASU, you are probably working at an intelligence agency, are a military professional or you want to do one of those things, and you want to have a better grasp of the things that will make you more prepared to face the issues that we are confronting in the international environment."

"That is what our program is really designed for," he added. "Security studies, by its nature, includes culture as well as international studies, geopolitics and military studies. I'm excited about the prospect of the kind of curriculum that we are going to be teaching here."

For more information on CSS degree and certificate programs, available courses and admission criteria, call (325) 486-6682, send an email to css@angelo.edu or go online to www.angelo.edu/dept/css.

Meanwhile, the Laura W. Bush Institute for Women's Health (LWBIWH) at ASU is set to host its first public event, a "Day of the Woman" EXPO on Saturday, April 30, in the Houston Harte University Center, 1910 Rosemont Drive.

The event will run from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the University Center's C.J. Davidson Conference Center. Keynote speakers will be Dr. Marjorie Jenkins, founder and executive director of the LWBIWH at the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center (TTUHSC), and Dr. Holly Atkinson, assistant clinical professor of medicine and co-director of the Advancing Idealism in Medicine Program at the Mt. Sinai School of Medicine.

Also featured at the EXPO will be activities dedicated to health and wellness education for women of all ages, including breakout sessions on brain power, skin care, bio-identical hormones, heart disease, cancer, and aches and pains. Speakers for the breakout sessions will include both local and national experts. Breakfast and lunch will be provided.

Registration for the EXPO runs through April 20, and the registration fees are $30 per person or $350 for a reserved table. Seating is limited, so participants are encouraged to register early. The registration form and more details on the expo, schedule, breakout sessions and speakers can be found online at www.angelo.edu/lwbiwh.

The LWBIWH was established in 2007 at the TTUHSC and is dedicated to the cultivation and advancement of multidisciplinary science in women's health, and to promoting the well-being of women through research, education and community outreach. ASU's regional office opened in October of 2010 and is housed in the Center for Community Wellness, Engagement and Development (WED Center), 5301 Knickerbocker Road.

For more information on the "Day of the Woman" EXPO, call Kelsey Samsel, LWBIWH administrator, at (325) 486-6457.

Tom Nurre Jr. is a news and information specialist in the ASU Office of Communications and Marketing.